Trip down memory lane

This morning we woke up at a beautiful place in a forest near Montpellier. As we got ready, the path we parked along started to get busy with people walking, running and cycling. It was a peaceful morning and as we slowly got ready to head to Ikea for a productive day of working in preparation of the coming days on the beach. We got Limão driving ready, and as soon as we had service we typed Ikea in the navigation. And for the 1000th time this journey we only then realized it was Sunday and Ikea is of course closed… Quick change of plans got us to the nearest McDonald’s which would have to do for the day. We arrived later than anticipated and still had to have breakfast in the van as McDonald’s breakfast is mediocre at best and surprisingly pricey. We soon settled next to sockets and connected to the WiFi and started our work as usual.

I got hungry halfway through, and this is where I got the genius idea to check how expensive a Happy Meal is and €4 for a cheeseburger, small fries, drink, a little snack and a weird French children’s book. Sounds like a great deal to me. So from now on it is all I will order at any McDonald’s. I had lunch, finished the day’s work and we felt ready to head to Basic Fit for a “quick” workout and a shower. We had finally advanced in our calisthenics workout routine from the first month with easier full body workouts to the second month consisting of 4 workouts per week, split into upper and lower body with some technical training as well. We went into the lower body workout with excitement and soon discovered nothing about this would be quick or exciting. About a million sets in we could almost cry as we were so damn tired and the exercises just kept on coming. It did however feel good to get some energy out after a long day of work and before we would be lounging on the beach for a few days.

In this Basic Fit I could swear I saw an old holiday friend from years ago. She went to the same campsite as me and my family year after year and she was the spitting image of her. It could well be possible, as we always suspected she lived in a bigger city not so far from the campsite. I told Julian some stories about her and the campsite itself. I’m afraid I’ll never know if it was actually her, I still don’t speak French and I was sure she wouldn’t remember me, but it was funny to think back of the stories of the campsite with her and tell Julian about them. Eventually the eternally long workout came to an end and we could head back to the forest for some sleep, tomorrow we’ll actually go to Ikea.

We woke up bright and early to head to Ikea for real this time. We wanted to be early enough for Ikea breakfast so we got ready as quickly as possible and arrived in the parking lot a bit too early, Ikea hadn’t opened yet. We headed to Decathlon first to get some protein powder as we finished our supply earlier that week. After our quick shopping trip, the Ikea finally opened and we headed up for breakfast. To our dismay, this Ikea is not one with unlimited coffee or the good breakfast buffet. But we got what we needed for a good day of work and enjoyed the two cups of coffee we did get. We worked until early in the afternoon and got lunch at the takeaway counter, a pizza for me and hotdogs for Julian.

We walked around the shopping center for a bit to get cash to pay for our sleeping place that night and after Julian finished a call we could finally head to Marseillan Plage! I was super excited and told Julian a million stories (he had all heard before) about the vacations I used to spend here. For a quick backstory, I have been to the same campsite in Marseillan Plage for about 11 summer holidays, the first few years my grandparents would come as well and before my sister and I existed my grandparents went there with my parents as well for a few years. This campsite and the village itself is pretty much all I’ve called vacation for my whole childhood and a lot of memories have been made there. Going there now with my boyfriend while living a life that’s full of travel felt really special and all the memories I have of all of the vacations there came back to mind and I was just really proud to tell and show Julian. We drove through Sète, against my father’s advice as he hates the drive through this city, but since it wasn’t high season anymore and Julian is rarely fazed while driving we made it through easily. After passing Sète the drive continues over the narrow barrier beach that separates the sea from the lagoon. Eventually you pass a few car parks and in the distance you can start to see the Ferris wheel on the fair of Marseillan Plage, my father always used to blast this one specific song ‘We gaan naar Frankrijk’, by ‘TheAmazingStroopwafels’ as soon as we could see the Ferris wheel. This time the fair had already been partially taken down, but we eventually saw a roller coaster and in tradition I blasted the song that I strongly associate with arriving on the holiday destination.

We first drove to a place we planned to sleep but this was far from the beach and also far from the town center so we decided to keep looking. Eventually Park4night showed us a parking right in the market place of the city center where no height barrier is placed and no signs that camping is forbidden are placed. We took the gamble and parked on the edge of the parking. Julian asked a neighboring camping-car and they told us we would be fine to sleep there and eventually more camping-cars showed up and we felt secure enough to sleep. As soon as we were parked we practically ran to the beach, but not before a quick walk around the town center looking at everything that had changed since I was last here in 2021 (note: practically nothing had changed) and I told Julian all the stories and memories I had here again. After sending my family all kinds of pictures it was finally time to head to the amazing beach!

I was so scared I hyped up the quality of the beach in my mind and would disappoint Julian and myself if it were in fact not so great as I portrayed it to be. But nothing was lied and the sand was pearly white and the sea bright blue and completely clear. I felt right at home and we spend as long as we could in the water and in the fine sand. As it was time for dinner we questioned whether we should cook or eat out somewhere. We figured cooking ourselves would be better as that would save money for ice-cream and a cocktail later in the night. We had dinner quickly and headed back to the center for the best ice-cream you will ever taste. I warned Julian about the sourness of the lemon ice-cream but he told me that’s what he wanted and I order my classic menthe-verte (mint-chocolate chip). Cornet d’or (or: golden ice-cream cone) is an absolute must if you’re ever close to Marseillan Plage. They make all of their ice-cream themselves and serve massive scoops. We enjoyed it along the side of the road on the concrete chairs that have been there for as long as I can remember and I told some more stories. Afterwards we headed to a place I used to come for cocktails, in the high-season there is usually terrible karaoke going on, but since it is already the end of September it was quiet. We both ordered a big Sangria and I can tell you that’s what we got, they are not shy about their portions here. We slowly got tipsy on our Sangria and I even had to finish Julian’s as he wanted to be okay to drive by midnight in case something happened. Halfway through our glasses two older French guys took place on a table in front of us, they looked kind of edgy and ‘cool’ but then got these gigantic, way-too-tall glasses of Piña Collada (with marshmallow decorations). They had to place the glasses in their laps to take a drink from the straw and one roasted his marshmallow with his lighter. It was a very cute sight and the evening slowly came to an end.

We fell asleep quickly but had a terrible night, luckily the next day we would move to a calmer location towards the other side of town in hopes of better sleep.

The next morning it was finally time to buy bread from the bakery across the campsite we used to go to. This bread is the absolute best, the crust nice and crumbly with a beautiful soft core. Julian got to taste it and was sold right away. After breakfast it was time to spend some time at the beach, but not before buying another baguette to have for lunch. At the beach we read, sleep, swim and play lots of games. This is what we did for most of today and the next day. We did get another ice-cream in the evening, this time 3 flavors with two spoons so we could get a taste of more flavors. We also had a quick trip to make to the pharmacy as Julian started to get sick, luckily I still knew where it was since we came there every year to buy the blue Strepsils, only available in France and the absolute best. We stocked up on the Strepsils as well as some snacks to have on the beach. After two long days on the beach, it is time for some active days! Tomorrow we will be leaving and driving upwards to finally make our way to Fontainebleau.